Rural entrepreneurs, resilient communities, sustainable prosperity
THESE ARE THEIR STORIES
Eyes Inside
Drone Inspection Startup Launches in Nederland, Texas Kaycie Gunn spent years working in the Ethylene Unit at Sabine River Operations, writing hundreds of confined space entry permits and watching crews prepare before…
Growing Fleet
West Texas Trucker Adds a Second Truck to His Business In Amarillo, Texas, Javier Martinez turned 20 years of trucking experience into his own company, MTZ Ranch Trucking, in September 2025. Almost a year later, he added…
Breaking Ground
Two East Texas Builders Launch Their Own Civil Construction Firm Zane Adams and Jeremy Dickerson spent years building other people’s companies. In late 2025, they launched their own: ZJ Industries, a civil construction…
Park Reborn
Community Volunteers Revitalize Zavalla City Park in Rural East Texas Generations of Zavalla families have built birthdays, cookouts and long summer afternoons around this park and its pavilion. The playground itself,…
Seen, Not Scored
Small Business Loan Helps Memphis Groomer Open a Pet Spa Brittany Givens has loved animals for as long as she can remember. At 18, that love led her to a job at a large corporate pet store, where she discovered pet…
The Tide Keeps Turning
Rural Water System Ownership Takes Hold in Shallowater, Texas On a Friday afternoon in July 2023, organizers in Shallowater, Texas, expected maybe 10 people to show up for a meeting. Fifty did. For two hours, customers…
Tapped Out
Emergency Well Repair Financing Kept Water Flowing in Gober, Texas For 63 years, a single well has supplied water to all 167 connections served by the Gober Municipal Utility District (MUD) in Fannin County, Texas. With no…
Fresh Current
Mound Bayou Water System Upgrades Bring New Investment to the Delta Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in Bolivar County, was founded in 1887 by formerly enslaved settlers who built one of the nation’s first self-governed Black…
Winning Back Insurance
How a Fortified Roof Reversed an Arkansas Insurance Exclusion Blanchie Brown got a brand-new roof, built to stand up to the kind of storms that wore out her old one. Her insurance policy still excluded roof damage. Getting…
Chain Reaction
How a Small Farm Loan Helped a Tyler, TX Farm Expand Fresh Produce Delivery Grace Brown started growing vegetables in her backyard in 2018. Today, she runs Uncle Paul’s Agritourism & Educational Corporation…
Roots and Roofs
Fortified Roof Program Builds Workforce and Safe Housing in Arkansas Linda Madkin had lived in her Pine Bluff, Arkansas home long enough to watch it start to show its age. Most of the wear she could handle. The roof was…
Key Change
How a Mississippi Music Studio Grew from a Home Entryway to 6,500 Square Feet Four years after teaching piano lessons out of her home entryway, Emily Brandon has moved her music studio into a 6,500-square-foot building in…
Square Roots
How a Main Street Grant Relocated a Hemphill Kayak Outfitter Toledo Bend Kayak Rental recently traded a dead-end dirt road in Milam, Texas, for a renovated 1903 storefront on the nearby downtown square in Hemphill, and…
Eyes Inside
Drone Inspection Startup Launches in Nederland, Texas Kaycie Gunn spent years working in the Ethylene Unit at Sabine River Operations, writing hundreds of confined space entry permits and watching crews prepare before…
Growing Fleet
West Texas Trucker Adds a Second Truck to His Business In Amarillo, Texas, Javier Martinez turned 20 years of trucking experience into his own company, MTZ Ranch Trucking, in September 2025. Almost a year later, he added…
Breaking Ground
Two East Texas Builders Launch Their Own Civil Construction Firm Zane Adams and Jeremy Dickerson spent years building other people’s companies. In late 2025, they launched their own: ZJ Industries, a civil construction…
Park Reborn
Community Volunteers Revitalize Zavalla City Park in Rural East Texas Generations of Zavalla families have built birthdays, cookouts and long summer afternoons around this park and its pavilion. The playground itself,…
Seen, Not Scored
Small Business Loan Helps Memphis Groomer Open a Pet Spa Brittany Givens has loved animals for as long as she can remember. At 18, that love led her to a job at a large corporate pet store, where she discovered pet…
The Tide Keeps Turning
Rural Water System Ownership Takes Hold in Shallowater, Texas On a Friday afternoon in July 2023, organizers in Shallowater, Texas, expected maybe 10 people to show up for a meeting. Fifty did. For two hours, customers…
Tapped Out
Emergency Well Repair Financing Kept Water Flowing in Gober, Texas For 63 years, a single well has supplied water to all 167 connections served by the Gober Municipal Utility District (MUD) in Fannin County, Texas. With no…
Fresh Current
Mound Bayou Water System Upgrades Bring New Investment to the Delta Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in Bolivar County, was founded in 1887 by formerly enslaved settlers who built one of the nation’s first self-governed Black…
Winning Back Insurance
How a Fortified Roof Reversed an Arkansas Insurance Exclusion Blanchie Brown got a brand-new roof, built to stand up to the kind of storms that wore out her old one. Her insurance policy still excluded roof damage. Getting…
Chain Reaction
How a Small Farm Loan Helped a Tyler, TX Farm Expand Fresh Produce Delivery Grace Brown started growing vegetables in her backyard in 2018. Today, she runs Uncle Paul’s Agritourism & Educational Corporation…
Roots and Roofs
Fortified Roof Program Builds Workforce and Safe Housing in Arkansas Linda Madkin had lived in her Pine Bluff, Arkansas home long enough to watch it start to show its age. Most of the wear she could handle. The roof was…
